Trump ex-campaign chief Manafort to face intelligence committee

Nunes drew fire from both Congressional Democrats and Republicans for disclosing on Wednesday afternoon that the communications of Trump transition officials were swept up through “incidental collection” without briefing or sharing the reports with intelligence commitee Democrats.

Although Nunes used the word “postponed”, Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said it was a cancellation and tweeted that Nunes had made the decision to “choke off public info”.

Nunes has yet to brief members of his committee. It’s not clear in what context Trump team officials may have been speaking with foreign agents liable to surveillance.

The sources told Fox’s James Rosen, who himself was monitored by the Obama Department of Justice in 2013, that the information leaves no doubt the Obama administration was spying on Trump during legitimate surveillance on foreign targets. Nunes said that “additional information” from Monday’s hearing had come to light and would be brought before him and his peers.

On Friday, Nunes walked further away from Trump’s position. Nunes on Thursday chalked it up to a “judgement call”. “At the end of the day, sometimes you make the right decisions and sometimes you make the wrong ones but you’ve got to stick by the decisions you make”, he told reporters after the intelligence committee’s regular classified meeting.

As it has become known, the United States special services have been gathering information on contacts of Donald Trump’s team members after his victory at the presidential elections. But Nunes’ Wednesday disclosures prompted fresh calls for an independent investigation.

Nonetheless, White House spokesman Sean Spicer claimed that Nunes was “vindicating” the president following his unproven assertion about a wiretap, and Republican groups moved quickly to raise money off Nunes’ revelations.

Spicer said there was absolutely nothing wrong with Nunes going to Trump because the information had “nothing to do with Russian Federation”.

Nunes “has demonstrated very clearly that there is no way there can be an impartial investigation under his leadership”, Pelosi said.

Quite unrepentant about his charge that former President Barack Obama “wiretapped” his phones at Trump Tower during the 2016 election, Trump defended the claim by shifting its focus.

He also announced that FBI Director James Comey and the Director of the National Security Agency Michael Rogers are being recalled to testify before the commitee.

“I don’t think the administration is aware of this, so I’m going to go over there and tell them what I know”, Nunes said before heading to the White House to talk with Trump.